Using public modules

When you write a Puppet module to manage some software or service, you don't have to start from scratch. Community-contributed modules are available at the Puppet Forge site for many popular applications. Sometimes, a community module will be exactly what you need and you can download and start using it straight away. In most cases, you will need to make some modifications to suit your particular needs and environment.

In general, I would not recommend treating Puppet Forge as a source of "drop-in" modules, that you can deploy without reading or understanding the code. Rather, I would use it as a source of inspiration, help, and examples. A module taken from Puppet Forge should be a jumping-off point for you to develop and improve your own modules.

It's fine to start by using other people's modules, but if you don't learn the skills to extend them and write your own, you'll always be reliant on third-party code that may or may not be maintained in the future.

Be aware that...